Background

Written on February 22, 1889 London Tagalog ; Marcelo H. Del Pilar December 12, 1888 ; 20 young Malolos women Petition to open a night school of Spanish class

Vocabulary
Annihilation -total destruction Panacea- a remedy for all disease or ills Halter - death by hanging Blasphemous uttering or containing Bequeathed to dispose of (personal property, especially money) Fatuous foolish or inane, especially in an unconscious Contemptible - deserving of Succored - thing that gives help Pusillanimous lacking courage; coward

Summary

The rejection of the spiritual authority of the friars

it is more presumptuous for a person to put his judgment above that of the others and try to make it prevail over theirs. It is more presumptuous for a man to constitute himself into an idol and pretend to be in communication of thought with God; and it is more than presumptuous and even blasphemous for a person to attribute every movement of his lips to God, to represent every whim of his as the will of God, and to brand his own enemy as an enemy of God.

Qualities that Filipino mothers should possess

- Be a noble wife - Rear her children in the service of the state - Set standards of behavior for men around her


Duties and responsibilities of Filipino mothers to their children

Counsel to the young women


That the tyranny of some is possible only through cowardice and negligence on the part of others. What makes one contemptible is lack of dignity and abject fear of him who holds one in contempt. A man who does not think for himself and allowed himself to be guided by the thought of another is like the beast led a halter.


He who loves his independence must first aid his fellowman, because he who refuses protection to others will find himself without it. If the Filipina will not change her mode of being, let her rear no more children, let here merely give birth to them. All men are born equal, naked, without bonds. God did not create man to be slave.


Consider well what kind of religion they are teaching you. See whether it is the will of God or according to the teachings of Christ that the poor be succored and those who suffer alleviated.